Good subject.
I have been wearing corrective optics since a sudden change of vision in the
summer of 98. Since then, it took me quite a while to figure out the most
appropriate strategy to apply to each weather/course challenge. Having to
wear contacts greatly affected my bike racing abilities and confidence. I
found that it was difficult for me to control optical clarity and have
consistent vision. For the last 4 years, I have gradually learned a few
tricks here and there that make it a little better...
If the course starts out with dense pack riding through lots of runny mud
and water, you're pretty much screwed unless you are at the front and using
a front fender. If you're like me and can't stay at the front, then maybe
try wearing contacts and a pair of eye shielding glasses that will
temporarily provide relief until the next lap or feed zone. There you have
arranged to have another pair of clean lenses waiting to be swapped out for.
You can do this for as many laps or feed zones as there are, or as many
pairs of glasses that you have. You will need a friend there as well, whom
you must repay big time for the favor. Remember that the pack will spread
out soon after the start so it might actually work in your favor to chill
your pace at the start, then make up ground as the race progresses and the
group thins.
I personally only wear contacts (soft disposables) during very muddy races.
I also prefer to avoid those muddy races if I can. If Big K has been rained
on all week, it's going to be very sloppy.
If it's a very dusty mountain bike race, I absolutely cannot wear contacts.
I get major problems there, so I wear prescription glasses. Usually if it's
dusty, it's going to be sweaty which is another problem.
On courses that have slow, forested, and humid climbs (with lots of wind
protection), I have problems with fogging lenses. There are products out
there to help with the fog, but not always eliminating it. I have two
different types of prescription bike glasses. One pair is made by Briko with
a separate optical insert which clips inside and behind the tinted shield
lenses. These don't work as well as my prescription Oakley shields because
the Brikos have 4 lens surfaces to collect dust, sweat, and fog. The Oakleys
have made a big improvement for me.
Sometimes when I'm climbing and dealing with fog, I tilt the lenses down on
my nose to increase the airflow across the top, which helps de-fog too. Just
be careful about sweat dripping on the lenses from your helmet pads, which
brings up a whole other subject... This is a problem I am continually
dealing with, and am going to experiment a bit more with this year.
If you noticed the Paris-Roubaix racers wearing glasses, notice how clean
those lenses are. Notice how muddy their faces are behind and underneath
those same clean lenses. Obviously they were getting handed clean glasses by
their support crew. When their lenses get dirty, they always put them on
their helmet vents for sponsor's benefit.
I hope this "novel" may help someone out there. Good luck with your racing
and let me know if you learn any new tricks that I don't know of.
Chris Brandt
Team Collins
From: Gil Ormerod <sd-@concentric.net>
Reply-To: sd-@concentric.net
To: obra <ob-@topica.com>
Subject: [OBRA Chat] Contact lenses & Mt.Bike racing
Date: Mon, 15 Apr 2002 12:14:52 -0700
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I'm still fairly new at Mt.Bike racing. At Big K I found myself
wondering, as mud and worse was splattered on my face, just how do other
racers manage all this crud in the eyes when wearing contact lenses? I
started the race wearing some non-corrective eyewear to keep the crud
out of my eyes, but these fogged up on me and I had to take them off.
They were getting pretty coated with mud anyway, so they probably
wouldn't have stayed on the whole race even without fogging up. Then I
rode bare faced, squinting through the worst of the mud, until a
mechanical, multiple crashes, and two flat tires convinced me that this
probably wasn't my day.
So, any other mt.bike racers wearing contacts out there? What do you do
during these early season mud-fests?
Thanks,
Gil Ormerod
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